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Decent Contact Manager, stand-alone or add-on?

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  • Last reply by sfhowes

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Hi Forum Folke,

Is anyone aware of a decent contact manager that treats contacts like a file manager treats files; that is, with a heirarchy and tree-structure like any file manager, where you can name the directories? I'm running 78.7.1.

The built-in and the add-ons I've been able to find have some peculiar ideas as to how to handle contacts. I don't see why they can't be treated like any other file, where the user creates directories that suit him/her, and then populates those directories with the contacts of their choice... like handling normal files.

The "as-is" structure is "All Address Books" as the "root" directory, with "Personal Address Book" and "Collected Addresses" as 'subdirectories' off of the root "All Address Books." It will not allow me to create another address book off of the root; it insists that it depend from either "Personal" or "Collected." So then, if I create it off of "Personal," and then try to move some contacts from "Personal" to the new address book... it won't allow that, either. So what's the point of creating another directory at all?

It seems to me to be a truly bizarre way of managing contacts, nothing in the least intuitive about it. I've tried "CareBook Tab," but it doesn't do what I need, either... I end up with a lot of duplicates, manage to get the duplicates down to two... and when I try to delete one of those two, they *both* go away. Nonsensical. I might as well just dump everything into one big pile and forget about it, as it stands now. Like in the old DOS days where people would just pile everything into the 'root' directory. Not a good idea!

Alternatively, is there somewhere I can go to learn HOW TBird handles contacts, why it's set up the way it is, so maybe I can better utilize it?

Thanks in advance!!

Hi Forum Folke, Is anyone aware of a decent contact manager that treats contacts like a file manager treats files; that is, with a heirarchy and tree-structure like any file manager, where you can name the directories? I'm running 78.7.1. The built-in and the add-ons I've been able to find have some peculiar ideas as to how to handle contacts. I don't see why they can't be treated like any other file, where the user creates directories that suit him/her, and then populates those directories with the contacts of their choice... like handling normal files. The "as-is" structure is "All Address Books" as the "root" directory, with "Personal Address Book" and "Collected Addresses" as 'subdirectories' off of the root "All Address Books." It will not allow me to create another address book off of the root; it insists that it depend from either "Personal" or "Collected." So then, if I create it off of "Personal," and then try to move some contacts from "Personal" to the new address book... it won't allow that, either. So what's the point of creating another directory at all? It seems to me to be a truly bizarre way of managing contacts, nothing in the least intuitive about it. I've tried "CareBook Tab," but it doesn't do what I need, either... I end up with a lot of duplicates, manage to get the duplicates down to two... and when I try to delete one of those two, they *both* go away. Nonsensical. I might as well just dump everything into one big pile and forget about it, as it stands now. Like in the old DOS days where people would just pile everything into the 'root' directory. Not a good idea! Alternatively, is there somewhere I can go to learn HOW TBird handles contacts, why it's set up the way it is, so maybe I can better utilize it? Thanks in advance!!

Chosen solution

'Subdirectories' of address books are mailing lists, which are not the same as address books. New address books can be created from File/New Address Book... in Address Book. Press Alt if the Menu Bar with File is hidden. Contacts can be moved between address books by drag and drop, or hold Ctrl while doing so to copy, not move.

http://write.flossmanuals.net/thunderbird/address-book-basics/

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Chosen Solution

'Subdirectories' of address books are mailing lists, which are not the same as address books. New address books can be created from File/New Address Book... in Address Book. Press Alt if the Menu Bar with File is hidden. Contacts can be moved between address books by drag and drop, or hold Ctrl while doing so to copy, not move.

http://write.flossmanuals.net/thunderbird/address-book-basics/